All Student Center presented at Groundbreaking
By Olivia Quesada and Meghan Bobrowsky,
BlueDevilHub.com Staff–
The construction of the All Student Center is scheduled to begin Nov. 1 to replace the old multipurpose room on the west side of campus.
The project is estimated to last 12-13 months and should be finished by December of 2017.
Although no classes will have to move because of construction, areas of the campus will be fenced off. These areas include the staff parking lot off of Oak Street and the covered lunch tables. Because of this, additional parking is being provided at St. James during the construction and the tables will be moved out into the quad to still give students a place to eat.
Safety supervisor Tim Groth said that these changes may have effects on teachers and students but because the All Student Center is something that a lot of people have wanted, “we’ll just have to get used to [the changes].”
The construction will be during school hours so nearby classes could potentially be disrupted.
Robotics teacher Stephen Harvey acknowledged that the construction could be a distraction for students but is “not worried at all” that it will disrupt his classes.
English teacher Curtis Miller believes that construction could distract certain students but not all of them.
“Students can choose to be distracted by it,” Miller said. “Focused students can work around it.”
Sophomore Margo Fenton doesn’t think the construction will be an issue for her.
“There has been construction at other schools that I’ve been to and it has never been a distraction for me,” Fenton said.
Principal Will Brown pointed out that the noise of construction, limited access to areas on campus and traffic could all be issues. However, Brown said that the few issues will be worth it because “in the end we will have a fantastic facility.”
The All Student Center is going to be approximately 13,000 square feet, making it almost 6,000 square feet larger than the original multipurpose room.
Although he referred to the old building as rundown, Harvey said the multipurpose room had a “nice, homey feel to it.”
Brown also remembered seeing the old building prior to working at Davis High. He said he didn’t know whether to be excited or upset to see a tarp over the multipurpose room and a wrecking ball right next to it when he visited in June of 2012. Brown said he couldn’t tell if they were building a new one or tearing it down for good.
To Brown’s surprise it was the latter.
The multipurpose room at DHS closed in 2012 due to water and structural damages. The building was built in 1962 and had exposed wood beams, causing the water damage to occur.
Brian Meyers, Associate Principal at HMC Architects, said that the modern mechanisms being used to construct the new building and the watertight roofing structure ensures that water damage won’t be an issue this time.
Meyers has worked on a number of similar construction projects but said that the input and involvement of students made this one unique.
“It’s your facility and we listened,” Meyers said.
